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Automotive & MechanicsMaking a full stop at the limit line
At a stop sign or a red light the examiner scores how you check traffic, how you brake, whether the car stops completely and where it stops: behind the limit line, with the right gap to the car ahead. Rolling through a stop is a critical driving error. It is the stop of the California DMV Class C driving test.
Free to startScenarios
- A stop sign or a red light with a painted limit line.
- An intersection with no limit line: you stop at the corner.
- A car already stopped in front of you.
The steps
- Check traffic ahead, to the left, to the right and behind you, over your shoulder and in the mirrors as needed.
- Turn your head toward vehicles, bicyclists and pedestrians when needed, and react safely.
- Slow down and brake smoothly.
- Press the brake without pressing the accelerator at the same time.
- With a manual transmission, keep the gear engaged: no coasting.
- At a stop sign or flashing red light, stop: never go through it or above a brisk walk (4 mph). Critical point
- At a red light, stop and wait for the green. Critical point
- Bring the car to a full stop, with no extra movement forward and no rolling backward.
- Stop within 6 feet (about half a car length) behind the limit line, or from the corner if there is no line.
- Keep the front of the car out of the intersection, behind the limit line and before the sidewalk or the stop sign.
- Behind another car: stop where you can see its rear wheels, or with room to go around it without backing.
- Stop about half a car length behind it, without an excessive gap.
Safety rules that stop the station
- A right turn on red is allowed only after a full and complete stop, when it is safe and no sign prohibits it.
To pass
- Rolling a right turn on red above 4 mph is also a critical driving error.
- Each item here that you miss is marked as an error on the scoring maneuvers; you pass with no more than 15 of them.
- A step marked critical is a critical driving error: a single one fails the test.
Official source
California · DMV, DL 955
Driving Test Criteria (DL 955)
The California DMV publishes its Driving Test Criteria (DL 955) free: the pre-drive checklist, the scoring criteria and the critical driving errors.
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